Thursday, July 17, 2008

I just scored an interview with SVEN NYS

I just got word back that Sven Nys accepted an interview request from me. Considering he made it publicly clear that he is NOT accepting any interviews until after the Mountain Bike Olympics, I am thrilled that he chose to make an exception for me! I have been a huge fan of his for years so you can imagine how excited i am. I am interviewing him for Cyclocross Magazine's upcoming issue that will be released in time for the infamous Vegas Bike Show.





If you have any questions you would like me to ask Sven or any questions you think readers of Cyclocross Magazine would find interesting, please let me know as soon as possible.



On a completely separate note, I raced last two days ago and had another fun time out. The course was a slightly twisty one consisting of both super wide roads and tiny trails - flat but lots of wind. Average speed just over 40kph. Before the race, my friend Julie and I planned our race strategy. On lap 7 of 12 we were to attack into the headwind on a tiny trail just before the tight turn onto tiny s-turn tailwind trails.



As I sat buried in the center of the peloton on lap #2, I see a little orange ball shoot off the front of the peloton. It was Julie. Clearly something was lost in the French/Flemish/English communication of our gameplan. A couple of laps later after Julie was brought back, I found myself third wheel in the peloton chasing another gal off the front. Once she was caught, the attacks started. I knew who to watch - Liesbet De Vocht, my former Lotto-Belisol teammate. I went with as many attacks that she was in that I could handle without exploding. But just after a few of them in a row, the key break broke lose- with her and without me. And that is why SHE is the one to watch and not ME - not yet.



Not wanting to leave my final result to chance in an erratic sprint, I attacked on the last lap. Although i did get caught before the finish, at least i tried. My effort didn't effect my sprint nearly as much as the random gals parked on the finishing strip - in the middle of the sprint. It felt like trying to sprint around trees in the middle of the road. Strange. Thankfully there were no crashes - just a lot of screaming and yelling at the parked riders.



Tomorrow is another race in Belgium. It is both my and Julie's birthday so obviously we will plan to try something. As long as we review our numbers beforehand (ie. 7th lap does not mean 2nd lap) , our birthday enthusiasm may help us to pull something off !

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Will Liz Hatch be racing tomorrow as well?! Congrats on scoring your Sven interview - that's awesome!!

PEANUT said...

Liz goes back to USA tomorrow so i doubt she is racing.

Anonymous said...

I had dinner last night at Delfina with Elmo, who, looking dapper, I must say, in his Tom Ford and Chucks, arched a derisive eyebrow above the pince-nez when I proposed his getting the check for once, and wondered aloud if in return — were I to post this evening on young Peanut's blog — I might possibly pass on his wishes to her for a happy birthday!
— E.C. Chamberlain

Anonymous said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR CHRISTINE
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!


YAY!!!!!

Strangely it's Sue's (my wife) birthday today too! We have spent the day in France!

Hope you [and Julie] had a great day, and a great race! In Julie's defence 7 does sound like 2 :)

Hope you remembered to eat and drink!

When is the Sven Nys interview taking place??? It's great for you as a journalist and a cyclist to score that! I'll try to think up a worthy question.

Hope your birthday was all it should be and have a fantastic weekend.

:)

Anonymous said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTINE!!!!!!!!!!!! HAVING A GREAT TIME VISITING WITH YOU! Mom xx

Rickie Rainwater said...

Christine,
I can remember it well, your talk on being a Vegan Pro Athelete. Your personality and voice was charming, open, and friendly. I could tell how much you love your mom. I was also very delighted when you shared the video of you showing off your refrigerator and how you lovely laughed that your friend got all his vegatables from his mother. You have always been kind to me, a stranger, and it has been a wonderful blessing getting to know you and your life in such a far off land.
Your such a special person, and I wanted to wish you the happiest birthday!
rickie

place_holder said...

I waited until now, which should be a bit past midnight in your time zone, to wish you a happy birthday ON your birthday!

bikesgonewild said...

...first & foremost...have a great & happy birthday...hope ya pick up a good prime, if not a race win...

...again, the foto of your race goes back to what i said before...it looks like a bike race even though it's a weekday...here, on a weekday, you'd be lucky to be stuffed in the back corner of a half deserted shopping mall w/ 18 orange safety cones...

...weekend races here might be a little better but you seem to have quite a proliferation of racing in your area...anyway...

...thumbs up pour la victoire de la sven nys-ster...good score & ya, a well thought out series of questions regarding nutrition & hydration pre & post race...

...good luck...

...

CTodd said...

Very cool!

I should lend you my camera...

Anonymous said...

Hey Christine,

Just posted this to CXmagazine for your Sven Nys interview. Thought I'd copy it here too.

"As a serial back of packer looking to improve this coming season I'd love to know what Sven's favourite (or what he feels is most beneficial) training session."

I'd love to know what your 'favorite' session is too.

CT

Anonymous said...

YAY - Issue three of CXmagazine landed on the mat this morning!

A quick flick through, over coffee, before leaving for he office reveals another seemingly awesome issue!

Hey and look there is your name too!!! Good work!

Rickie Rainwater said...

Ok, I'm going into withdrawl... you must be interviewing and typing away somewhere.
rickie

Anonymous said...

Or recovering from your birthday celebrations!

PEANUT said...

THANKS for all the comments and birthday greetings!!! Racing, writing deadlines and mom visiting has been keeping me so incredibly busy that i haven't had much time for anything else.
I just got my CX mag too - lots of great stuff it seems. I hope to read the mag this week after my mom leaves and i have a little more time - ugh.

Rickie Rainwater said...

Thinking about cyclo cross and frightening prospect of trying it makes me think about the Nike Armstrong commercial... "hey kevin, you mind showing this nice customer how to kill the coward within." I once tried racing mountain bikes and it was ok, but way intense,especially in the heat here in the Ozarks. Watching cyclocross race clips make me realize how fricken hard it would be and anarobic. I will stick to this blog forum and to my road bike for now. I still find it fasinating.

GCDavid said...

Happy belated B-day!

Here is a question for Sven: We have seen a number of mountain bikers able to achieve success on the road (Evans, Rasmussen, Landis). But, we haven't seen the same cross over success (pardon the pun) between cyclocross and road. Why the difference?

GCDavid said...

Second question:

Given the copious (translate THAT) amounts of alcohol his fans consume on race weekends, shouldn't he be sponsored by a beer company?

Big Bad Wolf said...

@gcdavid about mt-bkers crossing over to road.
I think it is a money question. MTB pays compartively bad unless you are absolute top (which Cadel was when he crossed over) , Cyclocross is big in Belgium and also gets paid very well.
Don't forget that Sven (and also Lars Boom) are very good road racers as well!
Other mtbikers crossing over to road include Dario Cioni, Ryder Hesjedal ...

GCDavid said...

Yep, and Tim Johnson races road in the US, so I know there are people out there. But you don't really find the same LEVEL of success between the two. I know that Ryan Trebon races MTB and Cross, which makes some more sense (as do others such as Sven). I just wonder if there is a different enough ethos (culture, whatever) that keeps the groups separate.

I for one like the vibe of cross racing MUCH more than road racing. The spirit is much more like tris in that people are generally supportive of one another (while racing hard). In road it seems that someone would go after your family to win a race.

PEANUT said...

BBW nailed it with the crossover response. If you can make it in cyclo-cross, you can get a decent salary. Those guys who do find success in cross, usually use road and sometimes mtb as training only - such as sven nys (who doesn't drink a drop of alcohol for his sport, by the way!)